Andrés Amián Paints: Stahltruppen!

Studio Painter Andrés Amián likes painting so much that, not only does he do it for a living, he’s a veritable hobby machine in his spare time too! Like everyone else here at Warlord HQ, he’s got a serious case of Konflikt Fever, and has been painting up some of the newly released Stahltruppen – with a difference! Take it away, Andrés!

AA – I’ve seen all sorts of Stahltruppen paintjobs in the community lately, some very colourful and striking, and then some at the opposite side of the spectrum, grimmer and more sombre. Naturally, this got me thinking what I’d do once I got my hands on some.

With three models on the sprue, I decided to go with three different schemes, based on real-world German armour patterns. These giants look mean, and they’re almost tanks in humanoid form, so it was a natural choice to paint them that way. As I was building them, my eyes were caught by a specific feature – the chest plate. This large, flat surface looked like the perfect canvas for heraldry – and I’m not just talking about the Axis faction symbol!

This got me thinking about representing Konflikt ‘47 regiments with an old martial tradition, drawing on the heritage of Prussia and the other German states. This thought brought flags to mind, specifically the Bavarian ones, with that white and light blue rhomboidal grid. But because these models aren’t German, but rather Axis forces, I realised I could create regiments from other parts of the continent. Of course, I ended as I always end, converting and painting soldiers with a bit of Spanish flavour! Tercio flags became the order of the day, Burgundy crosses over colourful backgrounds.

For the first of my Stahltruppen I went for a dark grey (Army Painter Warpaints Fanatic Strap Grey) armour. His ‘heraldry’ is a Burgundy cross over a light blue and white checkered background. I repeated the same symbols on the right upper leg armour, and on the helmet. This really gives the figure the impression of being some sort of knight, which I think works well with the figure on the table, and how I think these soldiers would be seen by friendly propaganda. I made use of spare Spanish Blue Division decals, from one of my Bolt Action projects, on the left leg, left forearm, and helmet sides.

For the second Stahltruppen, I did another red Burgundy cross over a green cross, surrounded by flames. The distribution of the heraldry and insignia is the same as the first figure. For the armour, I did a classic German dark yellow base, with green and brown camouflage markings in a ‘stripes and dots’ pattern. I kept the dark grey on the weapons and rear part of the helmet. I really like the way that, by keeping consistent themes with the heraldry but varying the colours around them, I can get each model looking completely unique but still feeling like a cohesive group on the table.

The final Stahltruppen has ochre armour, again with the weapons and rear part of the helmet in dark grey. For the heraldry I painted a maroon Burgundy cross over a white and red fish scale pattern, with red flames on the helmet and legs. I don’t think they’ll make him go any faster, but it’s worth a try! This Stahltruppen carries a standard, with the pole built out of some brass rod and plastic tube, topped with a Napoleonic British flag finial. The flag itself is from the Pike & Shotte Imperialist Infantry Regiment set.

All three Stahltruppen are wildly different, but the style of the symbols and the colour of weapons and helmets create a sense of consistency. I’ll use these three guys as references for the rest of my army, with the flags and colourful heraldry you could find in the Spanish armies all over Europe during the Thirty Year Wars and other conflicts. I was very tempted to call them veterans from the ‘Tercio of Gibraltar’, but the lore writers have informed me that, in Konflikt ’47, Gibraltar is still a Commonwealth fortress. I’ll have to come up with some other explanation for these die-hard Spaniards in Axis service – but that’s all part of the fun!